California Girls segues into California Dreamin’. The audience sound their approval, or at least recognition.

BREAK FOR COMMERCIALS

As Surfer Girl plays in the background:

Patrick Duffy: Hi I’m Patrick Duffy, and if you’re wondering why I’m not in Atlantis at Southfork right now, take a look around…I mean, how can I, a Beach Boys fan, miss out on their 25th Anniversary concert – in Hawaii. Do you remember these?

Rock and roll fan magazines – this one’s from 1963, about the time a new group called The Beach Boys were taking this country by storm – just take a look at how wild our teenage idols were back then:

Can you believe those striped shirts and chinos?

But that was the image we craved, the California Dream. It all started in Hawthorne California, back in 1961, when the Wilson brothers –

A montage of early pics is shown, as he continues.

– Brian, Dennis, Carl teamed up with their cousin Mike Love and one of their school pals, Al Jardine. Together they put together a song that Brian and Mike had written about the latest local craze, surfing. At the time, the guys were just having fun – you see, Brian and Mike enjoyed singing ever since they were kids, Xmas parties and High School recitals, and especially in the car, listening to the radio. That’s where they started matching the harmonies of groups like The Four Freshmen, The Hi-Los – in fact, Brian became so obsessed with music that he would actually rework the harmonies of The Four Freshmen, assigning new parts to The Boys, all just for fun. He started writing his own songs and he’s never stopped.

John Stamos:(in a boat) And I grew up on those songs – Hi, I’m John Stamos (sounds like ‘I am John Stamos’). The amazing thing about The Beach Boys were they were just messing around with music, but within one year of forming the band, they had made it to The Top. It all happened when the Wilson parents went to Mexico for a holiday, left some grocery money for their sons, which the boys used up renting musical instruments. But when their bread ran out, Al’s parents got stuck with the bill.

A montage of early Beach Boys pics is shown, featuring David Marks, rather than Al Jardine.

This is what The Guys looked like 25 years ago – they called themselves The Pendletons becauses of the Pendleton shirts they all wore. They got a studio tryout, and the record executive loved their song. Their name was changed to The Beach Boys and overnight, Surfin’, their very first record, flew into the Top 40 charts.

Patrick Duffy: (on voiceover, as montage continues) Within a year, The Beach Boys were a teen sensation, and they were well on their to becoming America’s most sensational rock band. And that’s the sound thats been making hits for TWENTY FIVE YEARS.

Cut back to the stage. While Surfer Girl is still heard, Mike prompts Brian it’s time for the ‘high five’ routine:

Brian obliges.

Adoring fans look on:

Joe Piscopo:(emerging from a crowd of surfers with a surfboard under his arm, to much cheering in the audience) Hi, Aloha from Hawaii, I’m Joe Piscopo.

He stands amongst the beach party audience, rather than on the stage. The Beach Boys are not shown, and do not contribute, as Piscopo performs three minutes of joyless comedy. He compares New Jersey unfavourably with Waikiki, repeatedly. Ending this routine, he reassures Waikiki:

Joe Piscopo:(shouting) Only kidding!!! Don’t get excited.

He then continues with some talk about Atlantic City:

Joe Piscopo: Are they any Godfathers here? Any Dons in Hawaii…?Don Ho: Hi I’m Don Ho, can I help?Joe Piscopo: Don Ho! (to whoops from the crowd).

Don Ho and Joe Piscopo exchange banter, as they exit to more whoops.

Cut to Carl:

Carl: We’re celebrating our 25th Anniversary today, but it was about 35 years ago that Brian got us first singing harmony. As kids, Brian, Dennis and I shared a bedroom, and every night Brian would put on a show for us – he’d tell us jokes and we’d all burst out laughing.

Brian:(obviously from autocue) But my favourite time was when the three of us would sing together.

The Sail On Sailor piano intro plays.

Brian: Especially in the den around the piano. I guess that’s where it all started.Ray Charles:(out of shot) sail on sail on sailorBrian: That’s the voice I heard in my mind when I wrote Sail On Sailor, a voice full of soul that only a great gospel singer could possess, and today we’ve got the best (excitedly) the GREAT RAY CHARLES!

i sail an ocean unsettled ocean through restful waters and deep commotion

sail on sail on sailor

sail on sail on sailor

BREAK FOR COMMERCIALS

Patrick Duffy is playing beach volleyball with some bikini-clad babes.

Patrick Duffy: This is the life isn’t it? The sun, the sand, the surf, and beautiful girls wherever you look. And of course the music of The Beach Boys, the stuff that California Dreams are made of.Beach Volley Girls: Yeah!Patrick Duffy: Even here in Waikiki! Right?Beach Volley Girls: Yeah!Patrick Duffy: Yay! The Beach Boys!

A montage of Beach Movie clips are shown, prefaced by The Girls On The Beach trailer. The band recording of Barbara Ann heard earlier plays in the background, as he continues.

Patrick Duffy:(on voiceover) The beach party movies of the early 60s may have brought that California Dream to Living Technicolor, but it was the music of The Beach Boys that really grabbed hold of the teenage imagination – after all, what American male could resist a place that had ‘two girls for every boy’? And where your car could purr like a kitten til the lake pipes roar (?). It was all right here in Surf City.

You know actually, except for Dennis, The Beach Boys didn’t surf! But they knew a fad when they saw one, and in the early 60s, surfing was IT.

A montage of clips of The Beach Boys pre-1966 is shown.

You know, The Beach Boys became the kings of surf music. And the farther away from the coast you got, the more popular The Beach Boys became. It’s easy enough to figure out: kids who never swam in the ocean had all the more to fantasise about. But when the surfin fad seemed to wash itself out, The Beach Boys just started a new one! Hot rod music.

Patrick Duffy:(now back on the beach) The secret to The Beach Boys success in the early 60s was that they never stuck too long to one fad – once they replaced the roar of the ocean with the screech of tyres, The Beach Boys were off and racing with songs every American teenager could identify with: wheels.

A montage of clips of cars in the sixties is shown.

Patrick Duffy: With a car, you didn’t need the ocean to have fun. All you needed were the keys to your dad’s Impala. The Beach Boys sang of Little Deuce Coupes, 409s, Little Hondas, cruising up and down the strip. Even one of their most beautiful ballads, Don’t Worry Baby, had NOTHING to do with comforting a broken-hearted girlfriend, it was about getting ready for a drag race. Because of The Beach Boys, teenagers around the world had an entire lifestyle to grab hold of. Surfboards. Skateboards. Hot rods. Beach parties and bikinis. The essence of the California Dream.

A bikini-clad babe enters shot from the left. Mr. Duffy watches her:

She walks past.

He stops speaking, seemingly transfixed.

Once she is out of shot, he addresses the camera again:

Patrick Duffy: Now who can look at her and NOT hear a Beach Boys song coming on?!?

Licking his lips, he throws his ball over his shoulder.

Cut back to the stage. The Beach Boys finish playing the prerecorded version of Barbara Ann that greeted their arrival earlier.

barbara ann barbara ann barbara ann barbara ann

Brian is only visible in longshot throughout. The closest the camera gets to him is his snazzy shirt sleeve:

Before the audience applause dies down:

Gloria Loring:(away from the stage) Hi, I’m Gloria Loring, and I LOVE The Beach Boys. I don’t think there is any music that makes me feel as good as The Beach Boys, so lets have some fun, all right?

Carl:(joining her) Only if you sing with me…Gloria Loring: You got it!

Cheesy electric piano starts up, with nasty 80s syndrum rolls

Gloria Loring: This sounds familiar!Carl: It should!

They sing Friends And Lovers as a duet.

Gloria Loring: what would you say if I told you i’ve always wanted to hold you

Carl Wilson: so i’ll be your friend and i’ll be your lover well i know in our hearts we agree

The audience whoop in recognition and approval. It suddenly becomes I Can Hear Music:

Gloria Loring: this is the way i always dreamed it would be

They both join The Boys onstage.

i hear the music all the time i hear the music hold me tight now baby

Audience applause.

Mike: We’ve spent a lot of time in cars during the last 25 years.

Brian:(from autocue) Yeah, like the time we wrote Fun Fun Fun in the back seat of a taxi.Mike: I wrote the lyrics to Good Vibrations in my car on the Hollywood Freeway on the way to the studio.

Brian: But we really got our rock and roll education in my old Nash Rambler.Mike: We would sit in Brian’s car outside my folks house.Brian: We spent all night long listening to the radio and singing songs.

Mike:(interrupting) Hey Glen – Glen Campbell – that’s really nice, I know that Jimmy Webb wrote that, that’s great, but did you forget everything WE taught you about car songs?!?Glen:(shouting) Of course not!Mike: Well prove it!Glen: All right!Mike: All right, you played on a lot of our records, you toured with us back in 1965 – for 6 months you WERE a Beach Boy.Glen: Yes, memorable days in my life, I might add.Mike: Fun fun fun, you might say…?Glen:(laughing) It’s the truth!

Mike: I’d like to hear you shift out of first gear.Glen: You got it, I’ll rev it up! You ready boys?

The band plays Little Deuce Coupe. Glen and Mike join them onstage.

Mike: well i’m not bragging so don’t put me down

Glen sings the next line, but the song is cut short, and it’s another medley: it’s The Little Old Lady From Pasadena.

Glen: it’s the little old lady from pasadena

Mike mimes a geriatric lady’s walk, clutching his back:

A guy in the audience claps his flip flops together in appreciation.

Then it becomes I Get Around, as Mike gestures towards himself, as a signifier of how he personally gets around.

Mike and Glen duet, in a mock-antagonistic style, about how the bad guys know them, and how they both get left alone:

Brian Wilson, as the author of I Get Around, is visible in the background, but only for a moment.

Audience applause.

BREAK FOR COMMERCIALS

People are shown walking on the beach. None of them are The Beach Boys.

Cut to the stage. The band are playing Rock and Roll Music:

Mike: just let me hear some of that rock and rollin music any old way you choose it –

A Fabulous Thunderbird: Hold it, wait!Mike: What’s this?A Fabulous Thunderbird: If you guys don’t mind, we’d like to rock with you!Mike: Well, as a matter of fact, Thunderbirds were always my favourite car, so I guess it’s cool to sing with THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS!The Fabulous Thunderbirds: just let me hear some of that rock and rollin music any old way you choose it

Brian plays keyboards, but is only shown in group shots:

An audience member’s pet parrot is shown. Rock And Roll Music ends.

Carl: Let’s hear it for The Fabulous Thunderbirds, all the way from Texas, to help us celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Hey Brian, what school did you go to?

Brian: I went to Hawthorne High, what about you Al? Al: I was at Hawthorne with you, Brian.Carl: Hawthorne. Is there anbody here who DIDN’T go to Hawthorne?

Mike: I was a DORSEY DON!Bruce: I went to uni with Jan And Dean!Carl:(to audience) Where did you guys go?

There is a vague murmur from the crowd, but no answer as such is given.

Mike: Now, to keep that spirit going, let’s hear it for one of the best cheerleading squads in America! Honolulu’s own team in the NCA finals, the biggest cheerleading competition in the country:

Lets hear it for the Punaho Varsity cheerleaders! AWRIGHT!!!!

Mike: wheeeeennn…some loud braggart tries to put me down

The Punaho Varsity cheerleaders line up behind the band. There is a slow intro, which ends with a drumroll.

Mike:(to drummer) Showoff.

Mike: it’s number one in the state – and pride of the world!

Be True To Your School kicks in. The Punaho Varsity cheerleaders lead cheers at the front of the stage as the song is performed.

Most of the individual Beach Boys have a closeup (with cheerleaders in shot); Brian is shown occasionally, but gets no comparable closeup:

It goes on. It ends.

Audience applause.

Al: When I first joined The Beach Boys in 1961, I had no idea we’d last 25 years. I mean our first single only earned us 200 dollars each, so I decided to stay in school and become a dentist. But a year later, Brian asked me to come back – actually, he ordered me to, and I’m glad he did.

So Brian, I wanna thank you right now for showing me its more fun up here with you guys than crouched over some lady’s bridgework.

Mike:(as Brian follows Mike’s lines on the autocue) You know we each started singing with Brian in a different way: you met him in school; me, it goes back to our churchgoing days.

Brian:(hesitantly) Mike and I and his sister would go to youth night at church –

The Everly Brothers run onstage, in some kind of weird slow motion.

– and walking home we’d sing three part harmonies.

Don Everly: I bet you sang one of OUR songs!Brian:(looking confused) It’s The Everly Brothers!Phil Everly: Here’s a song I know you guys used to sing!

They sing Don’t Worry Baby, accompanied by the band. It then becomes Getcha Back. Mike joins in. Then it’s Wake Up Little Susie.

Throughout these performances, images of the sea, boats, surfing and the audience are intercut.

Audience applause, shots of the crowd, girls on shoulders etc.

BREAK FOR COMMERCIALS

The Beach Boys version of Come Go With Me plays in the background.

Glen Campbell:(on a boat, holding up a tiny photograph) Hi, I’m Glen Campbell. Recognise the guy on the right? That’s me. You see, for six months I was a Beach Boy. It all happened back in ’64, ’65, when Brian Wilson decided he didn’t want to tour for a while, so Mike and Carl called me and asked me to replace him on the road – and let me tell you, those were the days when The Beach Boys were going through some pretty important changes.

A montage of mid-60s Beach Boys pics is shown.

Brian had always been the leader of the band, and now he just wanted to stay home and write. I’m glad he did too, because that’s when Brian wrote some of his best songs. And with him on leave, The Beach Boys started reconstructing their act.

A montage of post-1967 Beach Boys pics is shown.

And Mike, he really came into his own as a showman too.

A montage of pics of Mike Love’s onstage antics is shown.

Boy, nobody could beat his onstage antics. Carl took over the reins as the musical leader.

A montage of Carl Wilson pics is shown.

His voice was getting so beautiful, he’d sing ballads like God Only Knows, and all of the girls would swoon.

A montage of Al Jardine pics is shown.

And Al was stepping up front too for the first time, singing lead on Help Me Rhonda, and he started suggesting more songs for the act too – credit him with Sloop John B.

A montage of Bruce Johnston pics is shown.

After I left, Bruce hopped onboard, he was like the musical engineer of the band, he could sit down with a pile of sheet music and in no time could come up with an arrangement for a full concert. You could really see them growing tighter as a band. Throughout the mid-60s, The Beach Boys were growing up, and in the process making some beautiful music – what i like to call ‘adult surfing music’. While the guys were on tour, Brian was back in LA working on the music that would earn him his reputation as a musical genius, Pet Sounds.

A montage of Brian Wilson pics are shown, as representative of the Pet Sounds era:

If ever an album revolutionised American pop, this was it. And soon rock critics were hailing The Beach Boys –

A montage of Beach Boys pics from the 80s is shown, as he continues.

– the guys who sang about surfboards and deuce coupes, as The American Band. Since then The Beach Boys have become an American Institution, especially every 4th of July, when they play to millions of screaming fans at The Washington Monument, and, like this party on the beach at Waikiki, The Beach Boys have come to stand for all the fun and good spirits of our own American Dream. And, after 25 years, they just keep spreading those good, good vibrations!

Cut to The Beach Boys playing Come Go With Me onstage. Don Ho is with them. The song limps to a halt with a brief sax solo. More bikini-clad babes are shown in the audience.

Bruce: Before I joined the group, I was pretty impressed by The Beach Boys. It was in 1965 that I got a call from Mike Love. They needed someone to fill in for Glen Campbell, Mike said ‘it’s only for a weekend, why don’t you do it?’, and that date in New Orleans turned into 21 years of making music with these guys. A lot of people associate our music with those fun innocent times, growing up in America. And here’s a song I wrote from my own memories.

Cheesy electric piano introduction to Disney Girls begins. Bruce sings a brief snippet of Disney Girls, which then segues into the God Only Knows intro.

Bruce: I remember one of the first times I sang on a Beach Boys record – the first time my mom could recognise my voice was on the classic from Pet Sounds, God Only Knows.

Jeffrey Osbourne:(off camera) god only knows what i’d be without you

Mike:(while Brian mouths Mike’s autocue lines) Paul McCartney called God Only Knows one of the most beautiful songs he’d ever heard – I agree, and its one of the favourites of the songs that Brian wrote.

Carl: He wrote it as a prayer of thanks, and we’re thankful that we have here, to bring a special passion to the song, Jeffrey Osbourne!

Jeffrey Osbourne: i may not always love you

God Only Knows is sung. It ends.

BREAK FOR COMMERCIALS

The audience are chanting BRUCE! BRUCE! BRUCE! BRUCE! The camera stays with Bruce Johnston for a moment, but then Joe Piscopo runs onstage, dressed as The Boss, in Born In The USA mode:

Joe Piscopo:(to the Born In The USA drumbeat) Surf! In the USA!

Joe Piscopo: There’s one girl I really dig: Jersey Girl!

The Beach Boys: do you love me do you jersey girl

This goes on far longer than it should. The audience is shown. Not everyone seems amused.

Joe Piscopo: Surf! In the USA! YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!

Joe Piscopo leaves the stage, still in character.

Mike:(as Brian wanders past, looking disengaged) Thanks for your help Boss! We try and be a little more pos-i-tive!Bruce: Yeah, we like to sing about things like the beautiful California girl like Brian wrote about with his first ballad, for a real Surfer Girl.Al: Look who came all the way from Late Night – it’s Paul Shaffer!Bruce:(to Shaffer) We’ve got a keyboard over here…

Paul Shaffer: Bruce, thanks very much, this is such a kick to be here in Waikiki, singing about waves and woodies, with the TRUE kings of surf’n’turf – that’s how I think about you guys – and I mean that sincerely. The first time I saw you in my home town i was dying to get up onstage and play a certain organ solo with you, and this time I’m like the Phil Collins of this event – I’ve flown from New York City, halfway around the world, to do this – and New York is a lonely town when you’re the only surfer boy around. I gotta go play a little bit of organ with you guys, I’m so thrilled to be here!

They play Surfer Girl, to footage of surfing. Cut to Brian, who has his first lead vocal:

Brian: we could ride the surf together while our love would grow in my woody I would take you

Then there is a jarring segue into Surf City. Mike sings the lead. Then it quickly shifts into Surfin’ USA.

Paul Shaffer has his much-anticipated organ solo.

The audience are shown having a good time again. The Punaho Varsity cheerleaders are in the crowd. Some people look at the camera rather than the stage:

BREAK FOR COMMERCIALS

Two Girls On The Beach: Happy 25 Beach Boys!

Al: Are you ready to become a Beach Girl?Belinda Carlisle: I’ve been waiting all my life!Mike: Welcome our own California Girl (as Wouldn’t It Be Nice intro plays): Belinda Carlisle!Belinda Carlisle: wouldn’t it be nice if we were older

The song is performed in a shortened version.

Belinda Carlisle: You guys are great, it’s great to be a Beach Girl, you’ve stayed together for 25 years, and you’re really the ‘band of gold!

Freda Payne’s Band of Gold intro plays. She walks offstage. The Beach Boys cannot be seen. She sings Band Of Gold.

Belinda Carlisle: now that you’re gone all that’s left is a band of gold

It ends.

Danny Hutton: Hi, I’m Danny Hutton –

Corey Wells: – and I’m Corey Wells, and we’re Three Dog NightDanny Hutton: Back in the mid-60s, when I was a struggling singer, I spent all my spare time in the studio with Brian Wilson.Corey Wells: And in 1969, when we formed our group, we had the privilege of working with Brian. It was then that we realised the potential of Three Dog Night’s sound. Is that right Brian?

Brian:(naturally, while sat at piano) That is correct.

He then reads from the autocue:

Brian: One of those songs I taught them was about my friend Danny. He used to call everybody ‘darlin’ so I wrote this song for him.

Brian and Three Dog Night sing Darlin’, as originally written and produced for Three Dog Night (as Redwood) by Brian Wilson. As Darlin’ was co-opted and rerecorded by The Beach Boys, Three Dog Night are singing a cover version of their own unreleased song, in tribute to the longevity of The Beach Boys.

Audience applause.

Carl: I’ll never forget the day twenty six years ago when Dennis came back from the beach and asked Brian and Mike to write a song about surfing. That’s how it all began for us, and I love to tell people that my brother Dennis was a great guy cos he really was (audience applauds). Whenever we do this song, we think of Dennis’ spirit being in a beautiful place, it’s called Heaven.

Cheesy electric piano intro.

Carl: it’s like i’m sailing on the ocean every time i see your eyes you could be the wind that keeps me floating

Bruce wanders around behind Carl as he sings. Mike Love does not particpate in Carl’s tribute to his deceased brother.

Suddenly:

Carl: i love the colorful clothes she wears

Ray Charles is back at the piano. Good Vibrations plays, as everyone comes onto the stage to join the band. Eventually the stage is full:

While the song is performed, anniversary greetings are cut in:

Some People On The Beach: Happy Anniversary, Beach Boys!

One Guy:(left) Happy Year two five Beach Boys!The Other Guy: Happy twenny five!

Two Girls On The Beach:(exactly the same clip as shown before Belinda Carlisle) Happy 25 Beach Boys!

Old People:(speaking in unison but ending out of synch) Happy Anniversary Beach Boys

Another Pair Of Beach Guys:(something in Hawaiian, then) Happy Anniversary!

A Girl: Aloha, Happy Annivers-

The video editor cuts her tribute short before she can complete the word ‘anniversary’.

Two Guys: Happy twenty five Beach Boys, you’re the best!

A Guy: Happy twenty-fifth!

Mike Love: Right now everybody get ready to sing along! EVERYBODY!

Everybody: gotta keep those loving good vibrations happening with her

A Woman In A Bikini: Happy Anniversary Beach Boys!

The Same People On The Beach As Before: Happy (indistinct)!

Brian is seen in closeup a couple of times, but most of the song shows various combinations of Beach Boys and Guest Stars.

Footage of surfing and canoing or something is also intercut throughout.Various shots are shown of the audience, often featuring pretty girls dancing:

When the stage is shown in longshot, Brian Wilson stands behind his keyboard, at stage left – and apart from the exhuberant congregation of Beach Boys and Guest Stars, as they all sing Good Vibrations:

Good Vibrations has a big rock ending.

SCENE MISSING – FROM MEMORY:

Al: Now here’s a new one from Brian!

Brian performs The Spirit Of Rock And Roll over the end credits.

IMDB Goofs: Every single word spoken by any Beach Boy, upon their request, was written on cue cards.

The Beach Boys 25 Years Together special was first aired in the U. S. (on ABC-TV) on March 16, 1987, although it was taped on Friday, December 12, 1986.

A lot of the music (instrumental tracks and bvs) was recorded (in advance) in a studio in Hawaii the week the show was taped. Terry Melcher produced the tracks. However, The Spirit of Rock and Roll was produced by Gary Usher in California during his sessions with Brian Wilson in September 1986…Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Glen Campbell, and Jeffrey Foskett performed the new additional backing vocals. Carl Wilson and Alan Jardine refused to participate, because they were upset with Gene Landy being involved. Landy told the producer of the show that if The Spirit of Rock & Roll was not included (which was a possibility as late as the day the vocals were recorded), Brian would leave and would not participate in the program. But it was included (over the closing credits), and Brian performed the lead vocal “live” at the taping of the show on the 12th.

Has there ever been a rock ‘n’ roll band that has plundered its distant past with such crass calculation as the Beach Boys have? During tonight’s silver-anniversary celebration (Channel 7 at 8:30), the Boys run through their repertoire one more time; the songs remain the same, only the locale has been changed (this time it’s the beach at Waikiki). The Beach Boys have done these numbers so many times, they could play them in your sleep. Then again, it may not matter. One suspects an annual Beach Boys concert is television’s equivalent of Sports read this article – and millions more – with a FREE, 7 day trial!

What has any of this to do with Smile, and the release of The Smile Sessions? Because in this timeline, Smile never happened.

OMG – as ver yoof say. Thanks for watching and distilling it so beautifully. I just started watching a bit on youtube and couldn’t make it past the opening part. I pulled the plug somewehere around “Yeah, we’re gonna blow the top off this island, so step aside killer whales!” Truly horrible and cheesier than Barry Manilow’s fondue set.

Can we go back to the timeline where Smile was fully realized, recorded, released and was the best album ever and Brian Epstein and Dennis and Otis and Marvin and Jimi and John and Carl and George never died please and thank you.